Pediatric Services

McLaren knows that our youngest patients have special needs. Our pediatric departments use this understanding to provide care that is individualized and age-specific to each patient we treat. The family is included as an integral component of any treatment program. Working together, we can maximize the individual’s health and potential for optimum recovery from illness or injury.

Pediatric Inpatient Unit at McLaren Northern Michigan

The Pediatric department is staffed 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week by a Pediatric Hospitalist who specializes in acute illnesses in the Pediatric inpatient setting. The Pediatric nurses have special training in the care of children ages newborn to 18 years and are well skilled in caring for a wide variety of childhood illnesses, as well as those patients requiring surgical interventions. The Pediatric staff is also certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS).

The Pediatric department has six rooms with a patient capacity of 12 patients. A kitchen is available and stocked with food for supplemental nourishment for visiting families. A well-stocked playroom is also available and made possible through a grant to the McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation by The Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation, Herman H. Meyer Project. This group is responsible for funding for the on-staff Child Life Therapist and supplies many of the toys in the playroom. Videos and video games are available to patients.

The Pediatric Unit also provides Diabetes Education for children and families and operates a monthly Outpatient Pediatric Diabetic/Endocrinology Clinic. An infant/child security system helps to provide security and peace of mind for families and patients less than 12 years of age.

Through the "Partners in Children's Health" program, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital offers McLaren Northern Michigan access to a regional system of healthcare for children, designed to enhance care "close to home" for children and families.